subject: Paul Ackford: Martin Johnson's elite squad selection is a strange mix [print this page] Paul Ackford: Martin Johnson's elite squad selection is a strange mix
Andy Robinson, now so coherent and comfortable with Scotland, was bamboozled by the multiplicity of choice available to him when he was leading England. Brian Ashton had several aberrations concerning the alleged abilities of rugby league converts.
Three games ago Steve Borthwick was Johnson's captain and premier lock. So meshed were skipper and manager that the relationship became a metaphor for the pair's obstinacy in the face of mounting criticism over a series of indifferent performances.
Now Borthwick is toast, shunted aside, along with his partner Louis Deacon, for the emerging Attwood and Courtney Lawes, and for the rehabilitated Tom Palmer.
It is legitimate to see this in one of two ways. The benign stance is to credit Johnson with coming to the party at last, to praise his new risk-management policy regarding his second rows, where he has promoted youth and vitality, buttressed by the ageing Shaw.
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Or, it is possible to take another route. To conclude that partnering Deacon and Borthwick for as long as Johnson did was a colossal mistake, evidence that he is a poor selector, and that the new kids on the block, however feisty and competent, will not now get enough Test matches ahead of the World Cup where experience is king.
That dilemma informs most of the rest of Johnson's decisions. Why persist with Ugo Monye for four of this season's Six Nations matches then leave him out of the current squad for David Strettle, who hardly set the world alight in Australia, and Matt Banahan, whose rugby is so laboured and cumbersome out on the wing that he would be better returning to the second row position he started out. Buy online Autumn Internationals Hospitality Packages with the best prices available! Corporate Hospitality Group covering in Autumn Internationals 2010 Hospitality and Tickets.
Those are just some of the reasons why it is difficult to get too upbeat about the latest England grouping. True, there are some fine prospects in the mix.
Dan Cole has already developed into a Test prop of considerable merit, Ben Foden and Chris Ashton are two prongs of a back three which will trouble teams, Attwood and Lawes have attitude, and Ben Youngs could be the best of the lot.
And Johnson must be given credit for unearthing that bunch, even if it did take far too long to give them a proper run. But there are also plenty of curiosities, the blossoming or otherwise of whose careers over the coming months and matches, will determine whether Johnson knows what he is doing.
Take James Haskell. The lad is physically identikit perfect, muscles bulging on muscles, every inch a shining example of gym culture at its most dedicated and sophisticated. Haskell now has 28 caps and has started 12 of Johnson's 21-game regime.
If ever a player should represent progress under Johnson, Haskell is that man, yet he remains as scatterbrained, as bereft of game-management skills as ever.
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No doubt this is a frustration to Johnson and his coaches as well as Haskell himself. It most certainly is to those of us who are seeking sustained and regular improvement in the Johnson era.
Foden, Ashton and the rest might just be the guys to get England to a place where they play with conviction and accuracy at home and away.
But with a midfield still to sort; with an over-reliance on Shaw and Tindall; with guys like Haskell, Armitage and Riki Flutey yet to sustain their contributions, there is some way to go before Johnson can categorically state that he is a gifted selector.
